A new approach for the diagnosis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections

Lluisa Vilaplana

  • PROJECT LEADER

    Lluisa Vilaplana

  • HOST ORGANIZATION,
    COUNTRY

    Institut de Química Avançada de Catalunya (IQAC-CSIC), Spain

  • DESCRIPTION

    Research
    Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a life-threatening pathogen, which is frequently implicated in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), particularly in critically ill or immunocompromised patients. Moreover, the emergence of multiple drug resistant microorganisms has become a major hurdle for effective treatments after infections caused by PA.

    In the Nb4D a novel immunodiagnostic test for the rapid detection of pyocyanin, a specific virulence factor sectreted by P. aeruginosa has been developed as a biomarker for this type of infection.

    Aim
    To perform the clinical validation of the ELISA assay for the detection of P. aeruginosa infections in different respiratory samples. This would render a faster and reliable diangostic of P. aeruginosa infections opening the possibility to apply more appropriate specific treatment.

    Problem to Solve
    P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic and life-threatening pathogen, with a high percentage of mortality incidence. The selection of an appropriate treatment requires confirmatory laboratory tests, which take more than 24 hours. The delay in diagnosis and therefore treatment onset increases both healthcare expenditure and the length of the treatments, as well as an increase in thedrug resistance of the microorganisms.

    Innovation
    The immunochemical assay developed is specific of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, highly sensitive, robust, reproducible and provides actionable results in less than 2 hours, allowing routine screening and simultaneous analysis of multiple samples.

    Level of Innovation
    The current gold standard for pathogen identification relies on bacterial culture, which requires enrichment steps on specific growth media to reach detectability. The delay in time and limitations regarding sensitivity, have major effects in the positive outcomes of patients. Thus, the proposed approach would greatly enhance the diagnosis giving actionable information to clinicians on whether to start the appropriate treatment.